The present invention relates to systems and methods of remotely manipulating or interacting with graphical or interactive elements on television or similar video screens. It further concerns systems and methods whereby users interface to control interactive content on televisions. Additionally, the invention is directed to optical virtual touch pad systems.
Many systems for manipulating graphical and other user interface elements on television, computer, electronic or other display screens are known. Examples thereof include keyboards, mouses, remote control devices (such as handheld television remote controls and wired consoles), touch screens and voice controlled systems. In the interactive television field, the interface elements can include electronic program guides, web links, option menus and embedded video hot links.
One prior art system for manipulating interface elements is designed for use by animators and artists and keeps their hands and input devices in the actual workspace. This is the "ImaginEasel", workstation at The Walt Disney Company. It is a direct manipulation interface system, allowing an artist to draw on a digitizing surface as if she were using paper and pencil. More specifically, the artist sits at the station, and instead of looking at the monitor, she looks at a superimposed image of the monitor on a digitizing surface. She draws on the digitizing surface as if she were drawing directly on the surface of the monitor.
The underlying concepts of the "ImaginEasel" workstation system are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,091 (Monroe, et al.), whose entire contents are hereby incorporated by reference. The '091 patent teaches a method of superimposing the image of a display onto the surface of a digitizing surface to allow artists to draw in a natural manner. It also describes methods for placing optical components between the display and the digitizing surface to compensate for differences in the sizes of the display and the digitizing surface. The image of the display is electronically inverted to correct for the mirror image reversal caused by a single beamsplitting element. The distances between the display and the beamsplitter and the beamsplitter and the digitizing surface in the '091 system are equal so that the virtual image can be superimposed onto the digitizing surface.
The '091 system, unfortunately, cannot be translated to consumer television and home computing applications. This is because for these applications the optical distances between the display and the digitizing surface to be registered with the display are not set distances, but rather are arbitrary. For example, chairs and couches in all living rooms are not the same fixed distances from their television sets. Another reason is that for these applications it is not generally feasible to electronically invert a displayed image. Since the electronic display on the home television will be viewed by others at the same time as the user, it is undesirable to invert the image.